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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

As far as the actual WORDS Brady Hoke was SAYING, I get the feeling that in six months we're going to be able to do this in our sleep:

I want to make sure we're crystal clear on the direction we want to go. They have to understand the goal of the program and how we're going to go about achieving that goal, the accountability to each other, the toughness that we want to play the game with, the mentality we want to play the game with and the demeanor that you play the game with.

He also says Denard is definitely staying and will be "the lead part of our offense." In part two he says "represent Michigan," "represent the University of Michigan," and "play Michigan football." This man is on message.

Dollarz. Michigan's buying out the remainder of Hoke's contract for a million dollars, which you knew. They're also going to be paying out an extremely precise sum for next fall's game against the Aztecs:

Michigan agreed to pay $1,016,800 for SDSU to play the game in Ann Arbor. “That will be a fun one,” Sterk said.

The tomato cans are getting expensive these days. Actually, with SDSU sporting a senior quarterback in 2011 and Michigan's secondary still trying to figure out which way "left, left, LEFT GODDAMN LEFT AAAARGH" is dubbing SDSU a "tomato can" might be getting ahead of ourselves. The last time they came to town it took a who-dat freshman tailback named Mike Hart to pull Michigan's ass out of the fire in a too-narrow 24-21 win.

Also from that article: SDSU's 22 verbals are not wavering according to their new coach. Just in case you were wondering if we could pick off players from the fifth-ranked class in the MWC.

A (the?) defensive coordinator candidate. The name being thrown around at the moment for Michigan's open defensive coordinator spot is former Michigan assistant Vance Bedford, who was the DBs coach from 95-98. After that stint he had a six year tenure as a DB coach with the Bears, was hired by Oklahoma State to be DC, was fired after two years, returned to Michigan for Carr's final season, left for Florida to be DBs coach, and was named Louisville DC when Charlie Strong got that job.

Louisville put up some nice numbers this year but when the head coach is Charlie Strong it's questionable how much impact you're having. Also, playing in the Big East had an impact on that—they're a good-not-great 40th in FEI, one slot behind UConn. Bedford's previous tenure as a DC did not end well. Just a few games into his second season as AD he unleashed this…

Monday, after OSU's defense surrendered 509 yards in a loss at Houston, Bedford said: "People are saying, ‘Well, same 'ol Oklahoma State.' Go tell those people that told that same 'ol lie to go ahead and jump off the ship like a bunch of roaches. That's OK because that's what they are, a bunch of roaches.

…and then refused to back off of it later. This probably did not help his case to keep his job; neither did finishing 95th and 89th in total defense in his two years. Oklahoma State got worse after he left, FWIW.

Hiring Bedford would be another shrug-your-shoulders moment. There's no reason to expect he's awesome but he's not Greg Robinson.

Campbell spins like a top. According to ESPN—weird source for this obscure news—Will Campbell will move back to defensive line. That might be an indication Hoke is planning a 4-3, where Campbell might fit better as a planetoid-sized NT whose job is to be the unmovable object.

The problem with this is that Campbell was very moveable in his brief stints on the field and people generally thought Bruce Tall was the one defensive assistant who could find his ass in three tries. Since Michigan has a couple of quality candidates to replace Steve Schilling they might as well try Campbell out in a scheme that fits him better than the 3-3-5 did. I'm still doubtful he's going to suddenly figure things out.

The Hoke file.Your long fluff piece on new coach X fell to Lynn Henning and reveals a strange opinion about vegetables:

"He didn't like vegetables. His favorites were two of the dumbest: cooked spinach and Brussels sprouts."

Explain how he is a "whiny little bitch." Has he said something that is fundamentally inaccurate or false? As far as I am concerned, Brian has done a great job of synthesizing the rollercoaster-ride that is Hoke's coaching tenure, as well as, the relatively underwhelming decision to bring much of his SDSU staff to UM. By all accounts, this hire was a complete curve ball, and I have no problem with expressing that. It's perfectly reasonable to judge the hiring of the new coach at college football's winningest program.

Please let me know what he said that was wrong. I'm curious - - - or, do you just not like the fact that he hasn't drunk the Kool-aid and put on the maize-colored glasses?

kinda bugs me actually. What bugs me worse is he cuts off questions before the question is finished, then he doesn't directly answer the question. As in:

Coach Hoke- As far as recruiting goes, what specific kind of recruits do you...

(HOKEUS INTERRUPTUS)- WELL, you know recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, and such we need to touch as many young men as possible and have to find people who want to be in Ann Arbor and become Michigan Men!

..(never finishing)think are key to your plans, given that Rodriguez tended to recruit to his schemes?

But I'm pretty sure it was for exaggeration. I guess Hoke must have cut off a few questions, but I don't remember him doing that. He was generally very polite, said thanks when people welcomed him, and tried to answer the question as best he could, what with being a new coach in his first press conference on his first day and all, literally hours after having been offered the job. Unless you're one of the conspiracy theorists who think Brandon is a lying sack of shit, in which case good luck with that.

The fact that Bedford was offered the DC position at Florida is the best indication that he shoudl be a solid DC, or at least that he is pretty highly regarded. You can't really tell how good a DC is based on a single year (at UL) because there are no constant variables. I assume he didint have much talent at UL, he was facing some putrid offenses, his HC is a good defensive coach - there is obviously no trend to judge him by to see whether he improved the defense. However, if he's good enough for Florida, he must be pretty good (I would think).

Uconn made our secondary look functional this year. Espn has Cincy at #40 Pass Offense, WVU #62, Pitt #70, Lville #78, and on down. I dare say our Pass D could have been top 100. Florida offer is impressive, and considering our situation, I would happy w/ the hire.

if Michigan is supposed to be a Tier 1 elite program, why are we settling for all these untested journeymen for coaches? Brandon talked big about breaking out the cash for some big hires, but all I see are "this guy might develop into something good" hires like we were a MAC program.

Nothing specific about Bedford (he's certainly a step up from Greg Robinson), it's just that we're supposed to able to afford better, more proven talent. This is one Michigan tradition I'd like to get rid of.

Disclosure - I am a total Hoke cheerleader - I have been posting in favor of him from day 1 of the search.

Howeva, I have been underwhelmed with some of the staffing hires. If the reports are true and UM was preparing to pay a HC around $4.5 - 5 million, then by hiring Hoke (who can't be making more than $2 million), we saved around $2 or 3 million. Why not break out some of this cash and go after a Shannon or some other coordinators.

I am not as worried about the 2 guys he took over from SDSU - position coaches usually have pretty meh resumes. And I like the S&C guy. But, I was hoping for more from the coordinator positions, in particular the defense. Why not break out the $$ for Shannon?

I will be even more disappointed if we do not end up with Loeffler and Soup.

Brandon work for Dominos before he realized their pizza sucked? Then when they finally changed it... meh.

"True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise - the other, loyalty." — Yost

if Michigan is supposed to be a Tier 1 elite program, why are we settling for all these untested journeymen for coaches? Brandon talked big about breaking out the cash for some big hires, but all I see are "this guy might develop into something good" hires like we were a MAC program.

Isn't that what we did with RR and what Florida did with Urban Meyer? I know Meyer had a lot of success at Utah but Utah isn't an SEC school. Granted, I would prefer we make a splash with our defensive coordinator but we're not doing anything out of the norm.

if Michigan is supposed to be a Tier 1 elite program, why are we settling for all these untested journeymen for coaches? Brandon talked big about breaking out the cash for some big hires, but all I see are "this guy might develop into something good" hires like we were a MAC program.

Answer

Because what Brandon was saying was a load of bullshit. It was all bullshit. National search? Fuck you, we're going with three MICHIGAN (HE-) MEN

and maybe text Pat Fitzgerald if I have the time...

I'm sorry, Brady Hoke seems like a mensch and I hope like hell he will be great. But if there's any doubt that this entire circus was anything other than Returning To Glory '11: The David Brandon Experience, the Hoke hire and his assistant hires should put that to rest.

MAJOR POINT OF CORRECTION ! This article states the offer at Florida was for Defensive BACKS COACH (NOT DEFENSIVE CO-ORDINATER). Let's not inflate the status of former Carr assistants. That's the kind of erroneous crap that slides right off the former Carr supporters unnoticed. It's consumed like kool-aid as if it were gospel.

If any RR achievement was exagerated it would have immediately been gang tackled and piled on.

basketball team is probably easing the separation from Brady Hoke considerably for a great many San Diego State football fans. Football recruiting is still going well and the BB team is really fun to watch. Although two upcoming games vs. BYU loom large, I would not be that surprised to see SD State finish unbeaten this year.

Well, I was just at the SDSU v UNLV game in San Diego. If they play like they did against UNLV, they will lose to BYU. Jimmer seems to be on fire. He was hitting all his shots with hands in his face against UNLV at the Thomas and Mack, where BYU has struggled for years.

I guess you could be right with their cakewalk schedule as long as you are just talking about the regular season. Other than BYU and I guess UNLV who they just beat, it could happen. They'll go down in the tournament though, no doubt about it. Duke, Syracuse and Kansas are too strong.

Fisher took over driving the bus when it was already on the off ramp to the NC. after that, he drove it right off the cliff with that scourge of our existance CW (I can't even type his name) in the front seat counting his $100 bills

Brian is right on point. I think the Hokamanics are trying hard to get everyone on board. I'm on board, but the over the top needs to stop.

Toughness- So what you are syaing is that you teach toughness and RR didn't? All coaches teach toughness it is kind of a prerequisite to play football. We get it now stop.

BWC- He's moving back to defense and now people are saying here comes the 5 star. There is a chance he becomes a good player, but if he does it is probably more likely that he just finally got it than the fact B. Hoke was a DL coach. I know, i know Hoke coached G. Steele, well he also coached P. Massey as well.

Brian nailed the V. Bedford post I was going to make.

In sum....we know nothing about these guys. Let's support them and see what they got. The biggest impact Hoke can make is get some stud recruits in here and get the momentum going.

I was in favor of giving Rodriguez a 4th year and a new DC, before the bowl game ass whooping then my feelings started to shift mainly because I knew Rodriguez had no chance staying as HC after that game. Maybe Michigan would have been better served switching places with Illinois and playin Baylor in the Texas Bowl, possibly a win there would have saved Rodriguez' job.

However that was then and this is now, Hoke is the coach and I have no choice but to buy into his message until the playing field settles arguments. It seems like Brian has been talking Hoke down and making everything seem cheap, well thats why DB is the AD and we have to trust his decision making skills for the time being until the games have been played on the field, then we can either cheer Hoke on or bash him in every article like they did to Rodriguez.

Everyone is saying the right things and the players seem to support him, does that translate into wins? No. But it sure cant hurt. Everyday on the main page it seems like a new "Hoke is no good" entry. Its starting to become go straight to the MGoBoard and disregard the main page agenda.

Look, this is Brian's blog, which we all access and enjoy FOR FREE, so who are we to criticize him, but at the same time:

"With great power comes great responsibility."

I am only half-kidding when I say that Brian is the voice for a large and vocal segment of the Michigan fanbase and, more importantly, he sets the tone for many that use MGoBlog as their primary source for M related content.

The negativity can spread. We all saw first hand how the negativity played a part (how large of a part is a matter of disagreement, but it certainly didn't help) in RR failing here.

I too wish that Brian would try to be more positive.

Look, most of us thought that Denard was out the door, Mike Martin was off to the NFL and that we would see massive attrition as a result of a CC.

Well, 3 days into the Hoke-era and Denard is staying, Martin is staying and we have not heard anything about attrition. This should be celebrated as a HUGE voctory for Hoke. When RR came in, he was not able to keep some of the then best players on the team.

Why should someone who has explained again and again why HE thought this would be a bad hire suddenly be required to be i9mmediately positive by jumping-on-the bandwagon? That sounds more like a pod person than an analyst--or my knid of a fan.

My guess is that when something positive happens, Brian will acknowledge it, and if enough positives occur, he will come on board. But, whoa, we aren't there yet by a long-shot and you've set the bar awfully low. Martin staying--nice, Denard staying-great (but I suspect that's a look-see through the Spring)-----but, on the negative side, the choices for assistants have been underwhelming, and it is yet to be seen how recruiting will play out.

It seems to me that it is the instant (and apparently required) optimism that is less justified....so far, I hope.

But I think it goes beyond just being an analyst with a different opinion. I'm put in mind of the difference between Drew Sharp and Mark Champion in giving opinions on the Lions. Drew was (and is) almost always negative. Mark could be negative when warrented, but also pointed out the positive things when they occured.

Having picture after picture of Coach Hoke out there that makes him look bad is just silly and unreasonably negative. Ignoring or being continually underwhelmed by the good things that have happened is a bit over the top.

Drew Sharp is negative about everything. Brian is not. Therein lies the difference.

Quick and probably strained analogy. Your boss hires a new guy to work with you. You don't think your boss knows jack. And the new guy's resume is, shall we say, a bit light. Oh, and he's the son of your boss' best friend. I'm guessing your not onboard on day one. But again, you can always be pleasantly surprised--at which time optimisim will reign and good will flow throughout the world.

or Terry Foster for that matter is baseless and has zero merit. Brian has given 5+ years of fantastic opinion based on facts, while those two hacks have been freeloading since the Fab Five era.

Brian saw the issues with the Carr era, and spoke as much. At the same time he kept it relegated only to the on the field stuff, whereas I would have gone all in and condemned the entire program since around the time Tressel started dominating.

at least not with respect to coaching. Denard is (apparently) staying, and Tate might actually end up staying, but I don't know if that's "good" as much as it is "not bad". IOW, not an improvement, that's simply the status quo.

I believe there has yet to be an assistant hiring that was anything other than "just a guy", other than perhaps the retention of Fred Jackson. Everyone else has simply filled an open spot. There's nothing yet to suggest that's good news ... it's not like hiring assistants away from Auburn or Oregon or some school like that.

If you think the assistants who've been hired so far count as "good things", well, I admire your relentless optimism.

Its not like Brian has posted pictures of Hoke in compromising circumstances. The pictures have all been from his press conferences. If I were Hoke, I would be more insulted by your comments than I would of the pictures. The dude looks the way he looks. Its you who thinks he looks bad.

then it would seem to follow that even if we have a coach that isn't the one we want, you should avoid the negativity so that coach, and hence the team, can have success. I'm not saying you have to be stupid, but there have been positives to talk about.

If you don't you are either like one of those people who were irrationally against RR, or maybe you are more enamored with a scheme and an idea of college football team than this team in particular.

with the tone of some of the things Brian has said, I honestly wonder if he will keep the blog up if Michigan doesn't do well, or just went back to his horror situation of 9-3 and lose the bowl.

I don't think anyone is happy that RR didn't work out. I think everyone would have been much much happier if Michgan were 9-3 this year with a defeat of MSU or OSU. But it didn't, so lets hope things work out for Hoke. If they don't for him, then lets hope they work out for the next guy...